                    ionCube PHP Standalone Encoder Changelog
                    ----------------------------------------

The main changes for this release are detailed below. Please see the
user guide for more details.

VERSION 3.1 - March 2004
------------------------

NEW FEATURES

* ASCII Encoded File Format

Two new options --binary and --ascii offer selection between the original
ionCube binary encoded file format and a new ASCII encoded format. 

ASCII encoding is a layer on top of the existing binary format, offers all of
the security advantages of ionCube compiled code binary format, and none of
the problems from users installing binary files using tools such as Windows
FTP in ASCII mode, Dreamweaver or WinZIP.

As with the ionCube binary file format, ASCII format files are also highly
efficient, and files still retain the ionCube performance advantage over
other systems.

Release 2.4 of the Loader is required to process ASCII format encoded files.


* Localised program messages for some languages

Localised program support for German, Italian, Polish and Japanese is 
officially launched in 3.1


* Support for 'untrusted' extensions

Encoder users can now specify whether they wish their encoded files to 
run on systems that have untrusted extensions installed such as mmcache.
ionCube security features maximise code protection even when OpenSource 
extensions are installed, however users can now choose whether their code 
is permissioned to run or not. (previously code would not run when OpenSource
extensions are installed)

option '--strict-php' enables warnings if deprecated PHP language features
are used, and generating warnings if call time reference passing is used.

A new Loader event for customising the message when a file is not permissioned
for use with untrusted extensions is also introduced.


MAIN ENHANCEMENTS

* The Encoder now defaults to looking in a file licdata.txt for license
information.


PROGRAM CHANGES

* The --erase-target option has been renamed as --replace-target. 
--erase-target is retained for backwards compatibility.


Copyright (c) 2004 ionCube Ltd.                       Last revised 1-Mar-2004
